A dual interface card refers to an Integrated Circuit (IC) card on which interface with an external device is provided in both “contact” and “contactless” manners based on a single chip. The dual interface card has a same appearance as a contact IC card. The dual interface card has a metal contact conforming to the international standard, and the chip may be accessed by contacting the contact. The dual interface card has a similar internal structure as a contactless card. The dual interface card has radio frequency modules such as an antenna and a chip, and the chip may be accessed in a radio frequency mode within a certain distance (within 10 cm). Therefore, the dual interface card has two operation interfaces conforming to two different standards respectively, i.e., a contact interface conforming to a standard of ISO/IEC7816 and a contactless interface conforming to a standard of ISO/IEC15693 or a standard of ISO11784/ISO11785. The two operation interfaces share a same one microprocessor, operating system and Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)/FLASH. Therefore, the dual interface card has advantages of both the contact IC card and the contactless card, and is a multi-function card, which has wide applicability. The dual interface card can satisfy requirements of all in one card and a multi-application card, and can be nearly applied to various types of scenes. Particularly, for a user who originally uses the contactless card or contact IC card system, the user can be upgraded to use the dual interface card by only modifying software, without replacing hardware devices such as a system and a machine tool. Therefore the dual interface card has a limitless market prospect.
Presently, a conventional method for fabricating a dual interface card includes:
(1) providing an electrode diaphragm on a front surface of a carrier tape of the dual interface card, where the electrode diaphragm is configured to communicate data with a reader in a contact manner, so as to achieve a function of a contact IC card;
(2) providing multiple blind holes and two metal contact pads on a back surface of the carrier tape of the dual interface card, where the electrode diaphragm on the front surface of the carrier tape is located at the bottom of the blind holes;
(3) placing a chip of the dual interface card on the back surface of the carrier tape, where the chip is placed forwardly and an active surface of the chip is towards the outside to expose all contact pins and contactless pins of the chip;
(4) connecting multiple of the contact pins of the chip to the electrode diaphragm on the front surface of the carrier tape via the multiple blind holes by using a conventional fly wire bonding process;
(5) connecting two contactless pins of the chip to the two metal contact pads on the back surface of the carrier tape by using a conventional fly wire bonding process;
(6) sealing the chip and the fly wire by packaging with an epoxy adhesive, conventional plastics or ceramics, to form a carrier tape module;
(7) fabricating a wireless Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) antenna of a contactless card;
(8) pressing the RFID antenna into a card base;
(9) milling a slot at a package position of the carrier tape module of the card base, where two ends of the RFID antenna are exposed in the slot;
(10) embedding the carrier tape module of the dual interface card into the milled slot of the card base, where the back surface of the carrier tape module is downward;
(11) connecting the two contactless contact pads on the carrier tape module to the two ends of the RFID antenna in the milled slot by bonding with conductive adhesive or by welding; and
(12) packaging the carrier tape module of the dual interface card in the milled slot, where a surface of the electrode diaphragm on the front surface of the carrier tape module is substantially flush with a surface of the card base.
The dual interface card fabricated using the conventional technology has the following problems.
(1) The pins of the chip are connected to the electrode diaphragm on the front surface of the carrier tape or the contactless metal contact pads on the back surface of the carrier tape by using the conventional fly wire bonding process. The fabrication process is complicated. The chip and the fly wire are sealed by packaging with the epoxy adhesive, plastics or ceramics. It is not beneficial to dissipate thermal energy generated when the IC chip operates, thereby increasing inductance of the chip and reducing an electrical performance of the chip. Multiple elongated fly wires are used, thereby reducing a bandwidth for data transmission, increasing current loss and reducing stability for data transmission.
(2) The two contactless metal contacts of the carrier tape module are connected to the two endpoints of the RFID antenna in the card base in a manual manner, which is difficult. Thus, the production efficiency is low, the connection stability is poor, and a service life is short, failing to satisfy an applicant requirement.
In summary, on one hand, the dual interface card has a wide market prospect; and on the other hand, the method for fabricating the dual interface card in the conventional technology has a great process difficulty and low production efficiency, and the obtained dual interface card has poor quality stability and a short service life. Therefore the market requirement for the dual interface card cannot be satisfied.